Tonight’s WWE RAW will air live from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee as the build to WWE Day 1 continues.
* RAW Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defends against Liv Morgan
* WWE Champion Big E vs. Kevin Owens in a non-title Steel Cage match
* The Miz welcomes WWE Hall of Famer Edge to MizTV
It appears fans will have to wait until Tuesday’s NXT to know if Sunday’s WarGames event was Johnny Gargano’s final outing in WWE.
After Sunday’s show went off the air, fans at the Performance Center in Orlando, FL chanted “Thank You, Johnny” and “Please Don’t Go” to show their appreciation for Johnny Wrestling.
As seen in the video below, Gargano addressed fans after Team Black & Gold (NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, Gargano, Pete Dunne, LA Knight) lost to Team 2.0 (Bron Breakker, NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes, Tony D’Angelo, Grayson Waller) in the main event.
“Candice [LeRare] is going to be really upset that I just blew our undefeated streak,” Gargano began. “Our WarGames record in our house, so I mean that’s… I’m in trouble when I get home. Trust me, guys.”
An emotional Gargano proceeded to thank fans for their overwhelming support.
“You guys are saying ‘thank you’ to me when, really, I want to say ‘thank you’ to all of you,” Gargano said. “Without all you, there wouldn’t be a Johnny Wrestling, and that’s true. You guys know I love you right back. But, with that love, I am an open book to you guys, and I’m always 100% honest and 100% authentic with you. Because I feel like you guys aren’t just fans, we’ve know each other for such a long time, you guys are like my family. This is like my family.”
In conclusion, Gargano stated that he would address his WWE future on Tuesday.
“And, right now, I’m beat up, I’m sore, I’m tired, I’ve got a lot on my mind,” Gargano admitted. “But, I want to tell you guys everything and will tell you guys everything this Tuesday night. OK? Thank you. And we’ll come right back here Tuesday night and I’m gonna tell you guys everything, OK?”
Gargano’s WWE contract was previously set to expire on Friday, Dec. 3. However, he would sign a one-week extension to participate in the WarGames match. His contract expires on Friday, Dec. 10.
Johnny Gargano also tweeted a “thank you” message to his peers after Sunday’s event. You can watch a video of him addressing fans below.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
WOMEN’S WARGAMES MATCH
Team Gonzalez (Raquel Gonzalez, Io Shirai, Cora Jade, Kay Lee Ray) defeated Team Kai (Dakota Kai, NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose, NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne)
NXT TAG TEAM TITLES MATCH
Imperium (c) defeated Kyle O’Reilly and Von Wagner
– After the match, fans are chanting “thank you Kyle!” He bows to the crowd and thanks them. Wagner is seething behind him. Wagner attacks but it backfires and O’Reilly takes Wagner down. O’Reilly stands over Wagner and yells at him. Fans chant his name as O’Reilly exits, yelling some more at Wagner.
HAIR VS. HAIR MATCH
Cameron Grimes defeated Duke Hudson
– After the match, Grimes is immediately all smiles as the music hits. Hudson is shocked and disappointed as the referee orders him to the other ring where the barber’s chair is set up. Hudson tries to retreat but Grimes rolls him back in. Hudson drops Grimes with a clothesline. Hudson places Grimes in the chair as fans boo. Hudson grabs the clippers and turns back around but Grimes kicks him in the face. Grimes nails the Cave-In for a pop. Grimes shows off the clippers as fans cheer him on. Grimes puts Hudson in the chair and shaves some hair off, most but not all, and Hudson quickly retreats. Grimes takes a seat in the chair as his music starts up. Hudson retreats as Grimes gets one last “to the moon!” pop from the crowd.
NXT CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
Roderick Strong (c) defeated Joe Gacy
– McKenzie Mitchell is backstage with Kyle O’Reilly, asking what happened after their loss to Imperium when Von Wagner tried to attack him. O’Reilly says he’s been in the business for a long time and if Wagner thinks he didn’t smell that turn coming from a mile away, Wagner is as dumb as he looks. Kyle says this is the first time he hasn’t been in WarGames and he’s hungry for some steel, so he challenges Wagner to a Steel Cage match on Tuesday’s NXT. O’Reilly storms off.
MEN’S WARGAMES MATCH
Team New School (Bron Breakker, NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes, Tony D’Angelo, Grayson Waller) defeated Team Old School (NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne, LA Knight)
WWE SmackDown Superstar Jeff Hardy was reportedly sent home by officials this weekend.
Hardy missed Sunday night’s WWE live event from the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas, and word going around is that he was sent home from the road, according to PWInsider.
Hardy worked Saturday’s live event in Edinburg, Texas, teaming with King Xavier Woods and Drew McIntyre against WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos in the main event. After spending most of the match in the ring, getting worked over by The Bloodline and apparently becoming more sluggish as the match went on, Hardy made a hot tag to McIntyre but then immediately disappeared into the crowd.
Hardy reportedly went into the crowd at that point, followed by security, but never returned to the ring, and didn’t even participate in the post-match celebration with Woods and McIntyre. For what it’s worth, a fan at the Edinburg live event noted that Hardy stopped to greet just about every fan at ringside and on the entrance-way as he made his way to the ring before the six-man main event began.
Hardy was not backstage for last night’s live event in Corpus Christi, and was replaced by Rey Mysterio.
There is still no concrete word on what led to Hardy disappearing at Saturday’s live event, and why he was sent home from the road.
Hardy last worked on TV during Friday’s SmackDown as he and McIntyre interrupted an episode of Happy Talk with Madcap Moss and Happy Baron Corbin. WWE then announced Hardy and McIntyre vs. Moss and Corbin for next Friday’s SmackDown, which would be a rematch from the November 26 SmackDown match that Hardy and McIntyre won.
For what it’s worth, Hardy took to Instagram and posted selfie a video around 23 hours ago. There is no caption to the post, which he usually includes. The brief clip also does not have any sound, and can be seen below.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
DATE: December 5, 2021 8:00 pm
LOCATION: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, Florida
AVAILABLE ON: Peacock, WWE Network (outside of the U.S.)
CARD
MEN’S WARGAMES MATCH
Team Old School (NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne, LA Knight) vs. Team New School (Bron Breakker, NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes, Tony D’Angelo, Grayson Waller)
WOMEN’S WARGAMES MATCH
Team Gonzalez (Raquel Gonzalez, Io Shirai, Cora Jade, Kay Lee Ray) vs. Team Kai (Dakota Kai, NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose, NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne)
NXT CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
Joe Gacy vs. Roderick Strong (c)
NXT TAG TEAM TITLES MATCH
Kyle O’Reilly and Von Wagner vs. Imperium (c)
HAIR VS. HAIR MATCH
Cameron Grimes vs. Duke Hudson
Tonight’s episode of AEW Rampage will air on TNT from the Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia.
* TNT Championship: Sammy Guevara (c) vs. Tony Nese
* AAA World Tag Team Champions FTR vs. PAC & Penta El Zero Miedo
* Jade Cargill vs. Janai Kai – (Thunder Rosa will be on commentary during this match)
Tonight’s WWE SmackDown on FOX will take place from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas as the road to Day 1 continues.
What will happen when Brock Lesnar returns to SmackDown this Friday?
Last week’s SmackDown saw Sami Zayn win a Black Friday Battle Royal to become the new #1 contender to Reigns, and there should be a follow-up to that this week.
It’s also expected that Kofi Kingston will return to TV tonight to assist King Xavier Woods. Kingston had taken some time off to be with his wife for the birth of their third child, but he returned last week in a dark main event.
There’s no word on if the top blue brand match for WWE Day 1 will be announced tonight, but it’s possible after this week’s RAW led to Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins vs. WWE Champion Big E being announced for the New Year’s Day pay-per-view.
Freddie Prinze Jr was interviewed on The Ariel Helwani Show lately and he revealed he’s interested in creating a wrestling promotion. He admitted that the recent releases actually make him hungry to possibly start things.
“No, it makes me want to start a wrestling brand is what it makes me want to do,” he claimed. “Like, everybody sees that and they get sad, I see that and I get hungry. I was in Karrion Kross’ DMs the day it happened, I was like, ‘hey man, I didn’t go back to work for fun. I went back to work to invest in things.’ Imagine having Keith Lee and Karrion Kross on the same roster and making people wait to watch them fight. Just keeping their stories connected but separate. Even if it was just indie shows, which is what it would have to be. I’m not trying to go in and put $50 million on something. But there’s so much talent out there now that I think people would love to watch.”
Freddie Prinze Jr went on to make it clear a return to wrestling is on his mind. However, going to a big main scale company is not.
“Yeah, in an independent fashion, but never on a huge main scale thing,” he stated. “I’ve flirted with Brian Kendrick’s Wrestling Pro Wrestling which is basically comedy cosplay wrestling. If the kids in the hall and Vince McMahon had a baby and it wanted to start its own wrestling brand it would be this.”
Freddie Prinze Jr admitted that he almost returned to wrestling recently. He nearly took a role with Women Of Wrestling.
“I got close on a couple of things, man,” he admitted. “I almost took over creative control of Women Of Wrestling for WOW Wrestling before AJ ended up doing it. Like I said, I spoke with Brian about him and his brand because I thought it was really fun and interesting.”
However, even though he did not get that role, Freddie Prinze Jr, is serious about starting a promotion. So much so that he spoke with his accountant about the steps he has to make.
“The most that I am comfortable saying, and we can talk more. Before I took the Netflix movie I spoke with my accountant about, ‘hey, if I wanted to screw around with like an indie wrestling league. What would I need to do?’ He said, ‘you would need to do A, B, and C.’ So then I did A, and I am getting ready to do B and C,” he revealed. “So you know, it’s definitely something I think about a lot.”
Freddie also spoke about the possibility of the promotion happening in 2022. He admitted it is down to the number of movies he shoots.
“It depends how many movies I do in 2022,” he said. “I have one that I am going to do. If I do two, then that’s A, B, and C and yeah, it’ll be something that I start pursuing aggressively.”
Source: Wrestling Inc. with credit to The Ariel Helwani Show
IMPACT! returns to Las Vegas with a loaded lineup on the road to Hard To Kill. Don’t miss any of the action this Thursday at 8/7c on AXS TV and 8:30pm ET on YouTube for IMPACT Insiders!
* At Turning Point, JONAH put the entire wrestling world on notice when he decimated Josh Alexander with a brutal blindside attack in his IMPACT debut. This Thursday, JONAH returns to the IMPACT Zone for the first time since the assault and there’s no telling what chaos he might unleash. Why did JONAH target Josh Alexander and what will his next move be?
* Matthew Rehwoldt vs. Chris Sabin
* VBD w/Eric Young vs. Rich Swann and Willie Mack
* The action begins Before the IMPACT, this Thursday at 7/6c on AXS TV and 7:30pm ET on YouTube. Hikuleo w/Chris Bey vs. Jake Something
WWE Hall of Famer Beth Phoenix is moving on from the WWE NXT announce team.
Phoenix took to Twitter today to announce that Sunday’s WarGames event will be her final night on NXT commentary with Vic Joseph and Wade Barrett. She confirmed that she will remain a part of WWE, but she is stepping away from the weekly WWE gig to spend more time with family.
Phoenix thanked Joseph, Barrett, Nigel McGuinness, Tom Phillips, Mauro Ranallo, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, and Michael Cole. She also said the brand will always be a part of her.
“Ahead of WarGames, I wanted to share that this Sunday will be my final night in NXT,” she wrote. “While I will remain a part of WWE, I have made the choice to step away from the weekly broadcast booth to spend more time with my family. This was not an easy decision, as I have loved my three plus years and 135 episodes with NXT and am incredibly proud of the brand. I will forever be grateful to Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett, Nigel McGuinness, Tom Phillips, Mauro Ranallo, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Michael Cole, and my entire NXT family both in and out of the ring for the amazing opportunity. NXT will always be a part of me and Auntie Betty will always be a part of NXT. Leave the porch light on for me!”
Phoenix, who is married to WWE Hall of Famer Edge, joined the NXT commentary team back on May 15, 2019. She recently got into the country music business, releasing her “Stone Rose & Bone” debut EP on November 12.
Source: Wrestling Inc.
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